Have You Got Those Sphinxes Under Control? Preparing for 2023 as a Chariot Year
Get ready for full-steam ahead.
If you’re new to tarot numerology, you may not realize that we’re heading into a Chariot year. That’s because 2+0+2+3 = 7, and the Chariot is major number 7 (VII).
Before 2020, I didn’t really care about what tarot number year it was either. But when 2019, a Hanged Man year, led to quite an intense combination of Death (the year after a Hanged Man year) and Emperor (2+0+2+0 = 4) energy in 2020, I started paying attention.
A year ago, I offered up my reflections on the previous Hierophant year—people separating into dogmatic camps, shifting belief systems, and generally stricter social behaviors based on adherence to said beliefs (rather than top-down Emperor energy). And I proposed some predictions on how a year of the Lovers might play out on a broad scale.
(Read that blog post, "Out with the Hierophant Year. In with the Lovers." here.)
The transition from Death/the Emperor in 2020 to the Hierophant in 2021 to the Lovers in 2022 was impactful to see play out. Here, I laid them all out from the Revelation edition of the Spirit Keeper’s Tarot by Benebell Wen.
One of the main things that sticks out to me this past year is Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the strong commitment most rich nations have provided to Ukraine and to how it reinforced the NATO alliance. There are long-term economic and globalist reasons for this commitment. But in a midterm year with already rising inflation, there were a lot of short-term reasons in the US to not get overly involved, first and foremost the faster rise of inflation and political blowback. Here, the Lovers’ commitment to partnerships and shared values (democracy) could be said to be in full effect.
Now, I’m not saying this commitment occurred because it was a Lovers year. I’m just saying that’s an example of how Lovers energy works in a year. It probably doesn’t inspire such an enormous event. But it could have tipped the scales. Who knows? Since we can’t know, it’s better to think about how the energy works, how it might have impacted your year (in conjunction with your personal year Tarot energy), and how you can use that kind of analysis to your advantage when planning for the future.
For example, I completed the collaborative Seaborn Kipper project and signed a contract with a publisher, both of which could have happened anyway. But thinking about this helps me think about planning toward next year.
Since it’s a Chariot year, I (and you, dear reader) might have to balance two important but competing interests (or four interests if you use Thoth). If done successfully, it would be very powerful in moving us toward our bigger goals. So as I look ahead to my year, I have to think what the two biggest drivers are for me and where one might derail the other.
(If you want to learn to read the Chariot with greater depth, check out my blog post on the card: “Learning to Read the Chariot.”)
The Chariot from the Linestrider Tarot by Siolo Thompson is a powerful image of the delicate balance needed and the consequences of a bruised and battered heart.
On a broader scale, I can envision a leader bringing competing factions to work together toward a common goal without requiring them to necessarily get along on anything else. Whereas the Lovers is about distinguishing one from another in complementarity (or opposition) and making lasting commitments, the Chariot is much faster-paced and more goal-oriented.
For example, I could see President Biden struggling to bring a Republican-led House on board for bipartisan legislation with a Democratic-led Senate. But some serious sticks and carrots could get the big things through. Within each chamber, the leaders are also going to have their hands full with competing internal factions, and there could be some ditching of unruly horses in preference for those more willing to make concessions. Either way, it will take laser focus and determination to get anything done. (I think the GOP is likely going to have two unruly old man-children to corral of its own, so there may be more opportunity to throw off Hierophant and Lovers factions.)
Similarly, Elon may struggle to maintain the rudders of his two major companies after an unhappy honeymoon in the Lovers year. That would be true anyway, but this year makes it more challenging. But if he somehow does it, he will be even more of a pain in the ass as he gains more power and feels emboldened to undermine the Fourth Estate. (Please, Universe, let him go to Mars on a one-way trip. I miss a small segment of Twitter.)
And related to the Musk, the Chariot is a card of transportation and vehicles, so I could see new legislation related to self-driving cars, new adventures in space travel, or the completion of high-speed rail systems.
Crabs are so hilarious sometimes.
But the Chariot is also associated with the astrological sign of Cancer, and that could guide the energy of the year in a different way. Emotions might be stronger for everyone, which could be good and bad. There could be new innovations in breast cancer research or, less grandiose, new surgical implant technologies. (Cancer rules the chest/breast.) But if we’re thinking literally in terms of cancer and of potential for greatness, this might be the year for Biden’s Cancer Moonshot to take off.
And who knows? The Cancer vibes of the Chariot could lead to fashion trends, such as breastplate-inspired tops, although I think that’s only recently past, or a sudden love of crab shell-colored russet or maybe the more probable coral. (Pantone®’s color of the year, Viva Magenta, is kind of a combination between the two!)
Whatever the case, I get the sense of high risk and high reward, with a lot of potential for disaster this year. So choose wisely and stay focused. I personally would not take what I consider unsafe risks, such as experimenting with new substances. It’s too easy to go off the rails in a Chariot year. But I would risk pursuing my dreams if I felt as though I could reasonably control the situation. The key is to make sure that, if it turned out to be a total “car crash,” it would not be fatal. For example, writing a new fantasy novel featuring a pink paladin (in magenta armor) would be a big accomplishment, but if I lost control of the process, it would just be wasted time and energy. There might be heartache, but not a personal crisis.
How about some inspiration from the ghost in the machine? Here's the result of a “pink paladin” prompt I sent to Midjourney, an AI art generator. I may think it’s cheating to use it as your own art, but it can definitely make for some great inspiration!
With that in mind, you might want to consider how your personal year will intersect with the Chariot energy. That’s typically just Birth Day + Birth Month + 2 + 0 + 2 + 3, and if that sum is higher than 22 (the Fool’s number), you add the digits together. (Some people start this count at January 1. But I would start at my birthday.)
I’ll start up a Temperance year in 2023, so I will be especially conscientious about my health and spiritual well-being with this intense Chariot energy and potential for disaster. But I’m also going to push myself to do all of the smart healthy things that I know I should do but have just found excuses to avoid, such as actually doing daily meditations and finally finding a therapist because healers need even more external supports than everyone else.
And if you have received any sort of year-ahead guidance, then you would want to consider what lessons the year holds for you. With my year-ahead lesson of the Dead End combined with the Chariot, I am already thinking about how I will have to be sure to have enough of a clear path before charging ahead. I don’t want to crash into that dead end.
How are you planning to use the energy of the Chariot? If you have some ideas, I’ll be happy to help show you how to make them come into reality this year with some comprehensive 1:1 coaching or through my small-group Tarot to Transform Your Life coaching program. And if you have no idea yet, that could be a lot of fun to look at through a reading together!
However you use it, I hope your risks are rewarded.
Did you learn something?
If so, you may love my intensive fundamentals course for new and experienced tarot readers, Read Tarot like a Nerd. A new 5-week live session of the course is starting up January 18, and the self-paced version is available all year-round.